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Refined Chatwood thrives for Rockies

Biting slider becomes a weapon for Colorado's young right-hander

By Patrick Saunders The Denver Post

Posted:
07/06/2013 10:25:27 PM MDT

Tyler Chatwood was almost the complete package. Almost. His teammates with the Rockies often said he had the nastiest stuff on the pitching staff. But something was missing, keeping the right-hander in the gray area between promise and excellence.

It could be that the refinement of one pitch -- his biting slider -- will lift Chatwood to the next level. And with the Rockies in the hunt in the winnable National League West, it's vital that Chatwood continue his metamorphosis from a flamethrower to a polished pitcher.

This season, in a bullpen session before a game in San Francisco, pitching coach Jim Wright studied Chatwood carefully. He suggested that Chatwood change the grip on his slider. Previously, the slider had been something of a stepchild in Chatwood's repertoire, always taking a back seat to his fastball and big curveball.

"I had a slider last year, but it wasn't nearly as tight as I wanted it to be and it didn't have much bite," said Chatwood, who enters Monday night's start against the Padres in San Diego with a 4-2 record and 2.75 ERA. "My slider was more of a slurve. It needed work."

Wright's suggestion was simple, yet effective.

"I watched him and just said he should move his hand enough to where he could throw his slider like a fastball," Wright said. "Then it turns into more of a power slider, a power breaking pitch."

Chatwood used his new slider in a May 24 game against the Giants and pitched six scoreless innings. In his next start, against Houston at Coors Field, he struck out a career-high 10.

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"When my slider's going good, it feels like I'm throwing my four-seam fastball. It feels natural," said Chatwood, 23. "I still throw my curveball a lot, but it all depends on the count and the situation. My slider is more of a strikeout pitch for righties, and my curve is more of a strikeout pitch for lefties. So they complement each other well."

Chatwood, who has made only 47 starts in the big leagues, still is experiencing growing pains. That was evident Wednesday when the Los Angeles Dodgers banged him around for six runs (five earned) on 11 hits in five innings. If he could take back one pitch, it would be the curveball he threw to No. 8 hitter Juan Uribe, who turned it into a two-run homer.

"I think I pounded the zone all right, but I left some pitches over the plate. They hit my mistakes," Chatwood said. "The biggest one was the curveball to Uribe that he hit out. That was the back breaker. It's frustrating. I had a 4-1 lead in the fourth (inning) and I lost it."

Chatwood was selected by the Los Angeles Angels from California's Redlands East Valley High School in the second round of the 2008 draft. He reached Double-A at age 20 and was pitching in the majors at 21. He arrived with a 96-mph fastball and a killer curveball, prompting comparisons to three-time all-star Roy Oswalt. Both are relatively short -- Chatwood is 5-foot-11, 185 pounds; Oswalt is 6-foot, 190 -- but powerfully built. Oswalt, now a teammate, lockers next to Chatwood in the Rockies' clubhouse.

"Tyler has a great fastball and it jumps on guys with late movement," Oswalt said. "He's got the stuff and the makeup to go as far as he wants to go in this game. I have encouraged him to use his changeup even more because I think that's a good pitch early in counts.

"But he has a nice delivery. He's compact, (there's) not a lot of moving parts and he should be able to stay in the zone a lot."

Yet thriving in the big leagues takes more than talent and the right arsenal of pitches -- it requires the right mind-set. That's something Chatwood learned after he was traded by the Angels to the Rockies in November 2011 for catcher Chris Iannetta. The Rockies loved Chatwood's talent, but knew he needed refining. Chatwood didn't love shuttling back and forth between the Rockies, Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Colorado Springs, but he admits it made him a better pitcher.

"I think I am just starting to know myself," Chatwood said. "Before, I was just going out there and kind of throwing as hard as I could. I thought I had to throw 95 (mph) every pitch to get guys out. I don't feel like I need to do that now. I just need to hit my spots, get some good sink and work down in the zone. Having confidence to throw every pitch for a strike and throw it in any count as been big too."

But the addition of the slider filled in the missing piece.

"The slider isn't just another weapon for him -- it's another pitch that batters have to file in their memory banks," Wright said.

Dodgers second baseman Mark Ellis agrees.

"He's a different pitcher then when I faced him in Anaheim before he got over here to Colorado," Ellis said. "He seems to have a little better idea of who he is now, and knows what he wants to be and what he's trying to do."

Wright, who calls Chatwood "amazingly competitive," has seen Chatwood grow up a lot over the past two seasons.

"There certainly is a maturation," Wright said. "Tyler's in the strike zone much more consistently. He can manage a strike zone better, his pitch sequence is better and there is more conviction to his plan and what he's trying to accomplish."

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